posted
my daughter started on 4 pills a day for 2 days and then 1 a day.
Posts: 499 | From Malta, NY | Registered: Dec 2008
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Haley
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 22008
posted
Malarone was the only prescription the pharmacist ever questioned. My doc wrote 2 pills 2 X a day and the pharmacist didn't want to give it.
Posts: 2232 | From USA | Registered: Aug 2009
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lymeboy
Unregistered
posted
Haley, your story reminds me of a curb your enthusiasm episode - Larry David brings a script to the pharmacy, and the pharmacist refused to fill it. then Lary says "hmmm ...doctor,........Pharmacist....pharmacist....doctor...."
I realize this doesn't sound funny, but watching it makes me crack up every time I see it. Especially after dealing with pharmacists every week for over a year!
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nefferdun
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posted
That seems like a low dose to me. More of a preventive measure than a treatment.
-------------------- old joke: idiopathic means the patient is pathological and the the doctor is an idiot Posts: 4676 | From western Montana | Registered: Apr 2009
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TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
It sounds to me like the doctor is trying to get the blood level of the drug up quickly.
If you take extra for the first few days, it will take less time to get a sufficient dose in the bloodstream.
Just like a doc can have you take a double dose of antibiotics the first day.
You are starting with no malarone in your bloodstream. If you just take one pill per day, it can take many days to have a good dose in your blood. So, you "load up" with it at first.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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lymeboy
Unregistered
posted
1000 mg of Malarone / day is a low dose?
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quote:Originally posted by lymeboy: 1000 mg of Malarone / day is a low dose?
Yes. Two per day wasn't enough for me, three was better, but that's still half a dose of Mepron. My LLMD ended up switching me back to Mepron. Some take as high as six Malarone per day.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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nefferdun
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Member # 20157
posted
Atovaquone is the shared anti-malarial in Meron and Malarone. The regular dose of Mepron is one teaspoon twice a day which equals 750 mg atovoquone twice a day.
There is only 250 mg atovaquone in one malarone pill so to get the same amount of it as you are taking in Mepron you need to take three pills twice a day.
However, many doctors now say it takes twice as much to treat resistant babesia. And the atovaquone in malarone is not as well absorbed as in Mepron.
The other ingredient in Malarone is 100 mg proquanil.
Malarone is given to people to prevent malaria when they go to Africa (or other countries with malaria). They take one pill a day. For treating malaria they recommend 4 pills a day (not taken twice) for three days. I guess malaria must be easier to treat than babesia because Coartem is similar.
As you are treating babesia, not preventing it, I think one pill a day is way too low. I take three twice a day.
-------------------- old joke: idiopathic means the patient is pathological and the the doctor is an idiot Posts: 4676 | From western Montana | Registered: Apr 2009
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lymeboy
Unregistered
posted
I'm taking 4 pills/day followed by 2 / day. I wasn't prescribed 1/day
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nefferdun
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 20157
posted
"I just filled a malarone rx. The instructions are strange. - "take 2 pills twice a day for 6 days, and then one pill once a day thereafter"'
Even at one pill twice a day, personally I would question the doctor's expertise in treating babesia. The only time I have seen this low of a dose was when babesia was just being held in check while another infection was the main target. It is preventative more than a treatment of eradicating it.
A low dose would be two pills twice a day. Some people are taking 2-3 pills twice a day PLUS one teaspoon Mepron twice a day.
Babesia is very hard to get rid. It makes no sense to me to use a low dose allowing babesia to develop resistance to the most effective drug used to treat it. Then where?
-------------------- old joke: idiopathic means the patient is pathological and the the doctor is an idiot Posts: 4676 | From western Montana | Registered: Apr 2009
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lymeboy
Unregistered
posted
well I am at the end of my rope with this new doc. He has turned out to be an overpriced, crummy charlatan. I am fuming. 3000 in the hole and no options left.....
I could really use a REAL LLMD in the Tristate area. Im sick of all the fools. I am almost as fed up with these "ILADS docs" as I am with the mainstream. At least with the mainstream ducks, you know you're in for garbage treatment, with this nonsense, it's like gambling. With your life. And I just lost...
BTW I have been to a few "prominent LLMDS" who are held in high regard by many. They all turned out to be crummy at treating Lyme. Since I am alll out of money, and have no where to go but down, I'd be happy to trash each doc via PM, if anyone is interested in knowing who to stay away from. It's the least I could do in return for all that insufficient, overpriced treatment.
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